EBPI was established in 1992 as the only biotechnology based company in the world specializing in simple, rapid, cost-effective methods for detection and monitoring of environmental pollution in drinking water, wastewater, soil and air. The EBPI Lab in Canada is respected around the world as a leader and developer of the ChromoTest line of products such, as the SOS-ChromoTest, Toxi-ChromoTest, Toxi-ChromoPad, and the Muta-ChromoPlate.

15 years later, EBPI remains a leader in the environmental biotech testing industry. With clients throughtout the world EBPI strives to continue it's leadership in the international market. EBPI is dedicated to the development of user friendly, environmental analytical systems that will assist in the sustainable development of global economies. Research, analytical laboratories, environmental consultants, government, academia, health organizations, nature preservation organizations, municipalities, and other countless sectors of industry use EBPI products and services.

EBPI is a Canadian company involved in the research into and the development, manufacture and sales of specialized kits designed to evaluate the effects of chemical and other environmental stressors on cells and simple multicellular organisms. To assist in carrying out this work we have partnered with a number of other companies and research organizations in North America and internationally. The following is a short description of some of our partners and the work that we are jointly perusing.

Microbial Insights (MI) – www.microbe.com is located in Rockford Tennessee just outside of Knoxville. EBPI and MI have been working together for a number of years in the development of a number of environmental technologies based upon microbial systems. One of the projects we are currently engaged in is the development and application of microbial source tracking techniques using a number of genetic markers derived from various species of Bacteroides. Bacteroides are a type of bacteria that are found in the guts of warm blooded animals and the species found in different types of animals differ genetically. By sampling waters or other environmental media, extracting the DNA and matching the DNA extracted with a range of genetic markers typically found in different species of animals it is possible to determine the origin of where the bacteria came from. This technology can be particularly important in the investigation of bacterial contamination in waters and in determining, for example, whether the bacterial contamination originates from human sewage, agricultural manure or some other source.

University of Toronto –www.dwrg.ca EBPI is a proud sponsor of the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council industrial research chair in Drinking Water Research at the University of Toronto. In its role, within the chair’s research program, EBPI is working with the University of Toronto to develop methods capable of investigating the molecular effects of trace contaminants commonly found in water supplies in urban areas. The aim of this five year research program component, in which EBPI is directly involved, is to develop simple tools by which mixtures of complex trace chemicals in water supplies causing biological effects can be identified and following treatment to remove them the biological effects of breakdown products can also be identified.

University of Ottawa – EBPI is proud to be working with Dr. Vance Trudeau at the Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Genomics at the University of Ottawa (www.teamendo.ca) investigating the mechanism of action of endocrine disrupting substances on fish populations found downstream of certain types of industrial outfalls. Although EBPI does not yet have kits capable of detecting the types of biological effects that these compounds have on fish and possibly other organisms, fundamental work of this nature is necessary to develop understandings of biological processes that will enable us to identify emerging environmental issues and develop tools to address them.